Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Dear Blog, I'm sorry...

I've neglected you. Yes I know. I'm horrid. The three people who read this blog are crushed.

After a very successful May 2006, I took a week off from poker and started playing half-heartedly in June. I dropped about 6 buy-ins and got so frustrated, I took out all of my money $1,125.77 according to Full Tilt's history dealy thing.

To be honest, my live earnings sort of melted into my bank account, and provided several new amenities (a new 21" monitor for DOOOL MONITOR LEEEETNESS!). I also paid off some credit card debt from a birthday present I bought myself 2 years ago!

I made my triumphant return to World of Warcraft as well in June, which is a sure-way to make sure I never play poker again.

But, I just couldn't keep away. You knew I'd be back. There's too many suckers with money, and I have bankroll requirements to fulfil. So just what is my bankroll? It's a good question. I re-deposited $500 onto Full Tilt on 7/6/2006. This is where things get tricky, because the line between my bankroll and the funds I use for living have been severly blurred. I've been aiming for 500 hands per night since I've been back. I've covered about 6k hands since my deposit, so I'm not too far off pace (13 days * 500 = 6500). I went camping over the weekend, but somewhere I made up for it.

LJJones has 15 seconds left to act

^^^ ZOMG THE PRESSURE1!1!

This hand was a toughy. Melvin511 sees 50% of flops, raises 8% pre-flop and has an aggression rating of around 4 (50/8/4 for the PokerTracker literate). He's a weird mix of Loose-Weak pre-flop and Aggressive post-flop. He's an LWAG.

Two callers on a draw heavy flop sucks. Two callers when the highest card on the flop pairs the board on the turn sucks harder. But Melvin's bet rocks, because now my decision is easier... he's proven that Boko does not have a jack, but not only that he's given us a bunch of information:

1. Why would a player who is aggressive post-flop not raise us on the flop with top pair?

2. Why would someone with trip jacks push? He has to think that I like my hand, and most normal players would rather price me in.

SO WHAT DO WE DO!??!?!?!?!?!?!

We call. It's simple. This guy is too aggressive to let us go on a draw heavy board with top pair, therefore he does not have a jack.

Rauncho is 63/21/1.09. Word. This dude is money. He's the LAW. Loose-aggressive, Weak. He continue bets half the time and gives up.

The information he gave us:

1. He calls the flop with no flush draw, a weird draw (56) in which he *might* have played it this way since he sees a lot of flops.

2. He calls on the turn that completes 2 draws, 56 and 9 10. Obviously 9 10 is a little out of the question.

3. He prices us in on the river when a second jack hits.

Don't get me wrong, I could have been outplayed here, but I doubt it. My favorite type of bluff is the "price you in" bluff, because it's the cheapest and more effective than a huge bet that disregards pot size. But I think that maneuver is a little outside the realm the average $50NL player, and certainly someone who sees 60% of flops.